Today’s Readings – Friday of Week 5 of Lent - First Reading

Commentary on Jeremiah 20:10-13

Jeremiah the prophet, God’s spokesman, is attacked and denounced on all sides by his own people.

"Terror on every side!” is the mocking call of Jeremiah’s critics, satirising his constantly gloomy predictions. “Let us denounce him!” - in the way that he constantly denounces the behaviour of others.

Even his friends abandon him.

All those who were on good terms with me watched for my downfall.


They are waiting for him to make some fatal mistake. “Perhaps he will be seduced into error. Then we shall get the better of him.”

Jesus was treated in exactly the same way by Pharisees and Scribes constantly trying to catch him out in violation of the Law. They ‘plant’ a disabled ma … Continue

Yesterday’s Readings – Thursday of Week 5 of Lent - First Reading

Commentary on Genesis 17:3-9

At the beginning of chapter 17 of Genesis, we are told that Yahweh appeared to Abram, now 99 years old, and identified himself as: “I am El Shaddai.” El Shaddai was an ancient divine name of the patriarchal period, preserved mainly in the ‘Prie … Continue